A man took 10 expensive steaks out of Trader Joe's: employees tried, but could not stop him

The New York Post video shows the man impudently stealing about a dozen steaks from Trader Joe's in Manhattan on February 8, leaving the store. The suspect, who is now being sought by police, was at a grocery store on East 14th Street around 8:30 am. Photographer The Post filmed him walking out the door with 10 bags of meat folded in his hands.

The two Trader Joe's employees followed the man up the escalator to the exit of the store. But they only prevented him from taking the shopping basket outside - not meat, as the video shows.

“Basically, they just tell us not to do anything, just let them go,” an employee of Trader Joe, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later explained. “We will have problems if we do something ... It doesn’t bother me, I work I've been here for two years, I see it every day. After a while, you don't care."

Trader Joe's did not respond to The Post's request for comment.

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To the grocery shop Police have been called and the incident is being investigated by the NYPD's Robbery Unit, law enforcement sources said.

Earlier this month, steak and fish vendors reported that thieves were stealing expensive items from their stores and reselling them to other unscrupulous stores in other parts of the city, forcing them to raise prices or refuse to sell the delicacies.

The number of thefts increased by 36%

From 2020 to 2021, retail theft complaints across the city rose by 36 percent, according to the NYPD.

Regarding the February 8 incident, a Post photographer questioned the suspect about what he was doing. The man first said he paid for the things, but then claimed he was homeless and stole food to eat.

"I'm going to eat this," the man in the video says. "I'm fucking hungry."

When the man walked out of Trader Joe's with the bulky loot, he had a hard time holding on to the packages. At one point, he tossed them into a large black trash bag that the janitor was already using.

"Bro. Bro. What the fuck are you doing? Give me back my bags!" said the janitor, chasing the man.

The suspect told the worker that he would replace the stolen bag, but the janitor replied, "I don't give a damn!" and the man was forced to unload the meat and fled before the police arrived.